News: Views

01 May

[17-01-11] Keep Loving Your Uni
It’s cliché, I know, but it only feels like yesterday when I stepped out into the sun at the end of my exams and into the recently graduated world.
[23-11-10] 40 days until 2011
In 40 days time it will be a new year, two thousand and eleven.
[13-07-10] Work Matters
Over the summer we're looking at a series called 'Work Matters'.
[09-06-10] Why Does Everyone Need Their Own Lawn Mower?
This question prompted the idea of a database of the items people have available that they don't mind sharing with the rest of church.
[04-05-10] Lobbying Andy Reed
On 1st March I joined around 100 members of the Speak Network, a Christian network of students and young adults who campaign and pray about issues of global injustice, to visit parliament to lobby our MPs about government support for the arms companies.
[01-02-10] A New Year. A New Decade
At the start of a new year and a new decade Rich Wilson shares something of God's heart for Open Heaven.
[04-12-09] Grace for Growth
Growth begins and ends with grace.
[02-12-09] God and Dualisms
At the leaders' weekend earlier in the year, we heard quite a lot about how dualistic thinking works in our lives.
[01-12-09] A Big Thank You
Over the last few weeks we referred to Nov 22nd 09 as the day we would come together to raise thousands and thousands of pounds.
[06-05-09] Stories from Encounter
The Encounter Weekend continues to be one of my highlights in the year.

Imagine a church that...

The unusual thing about the theme for this term is that I knew a couple of years ago (April '07) that we should do this theme in about two years time – which is now! I don’t think that process has ever happened before in the choosing of a term’s theme.

So, what happened in April '07? It was then that, after fourteen years of everyone meeting together for one Sunday gathering, we went into two expressions of Open Heaven.

Starting OH2 came about as we recognised the increasingly different needs of the life-stages within our church community, and the window of opportunity that becoming a parent brings. So a team was formed and OH2 began – an hour long, family-friendly expression of Open Heaven.

There are many benefits of having two expressions: it provides two shop windows or access points on a Sunday for people to experience God’s presence, and his community, in a way that is culturally relevant to them; two gatherings has also opened up more opportunities for leadership and created more space for people’s gifts and contributions.

However, one potential risk of starting another gathering was the two expressions getting disconnected from each other, and us all losing that sense of belonging to the bigger purpose of what Open Heaven is all about. I knew it would take about two years for OH2 to get properly established and gain a sense of identity and momentum. So I decided that after this time we would need to do a series that went across both expressions that reminded us all again of our distinctives as Open Heaven. A series that defined again what marks us out as a church, what are we about and what are we going for.

And so, here we are, starting a series which we’ve called “Imagine a church that…” where we are shining the spotlight again on the things we’re passionate about, the core values of this church, and the things that make us us. I’ve enjoyed working on this term’s programme a lot as it’s highlighted again for me why I’m so grateful to be in a church like ours! Hope you enjoy it too.

Posted by: Ness Wilson on Friday May 1st, 2009

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